2 Dec 25 - Antarctica 25 - Sailing South In The Drake Passage

I decided on an early 05:30 start for the first day at sea in the Drake Passage. Even with this early start I failed to see the sun rise. After a quick cuppa tea I headed up to one of the bridge wings. The seas were remarkably calm for the Drake Passage, with a moderate two and a half metre swell. Ortelius is ninety metres long and she is still a fairly small ship by polar standards. These seas were creating a bit of movement, but it wasn't a problem from my perspective.

The main lounge on deck 6: It was nice and empty as I was one of the first up that morning

Deck 7 is the top deck

The big disadvantage of Ortelius is it is not possible to see forward from the bridge wings: The front of deck 6 has a forward-facing wrap-around walkway, but observers are very exposed to any headwinds on this walkway

Mid-morning in the Drake Passage: That is an impressively calm sea for the Northern end of the Drake Passage

Me watching from the port bridge wing: The photo was taken by one of the other passengers and the copyright remains with them. Unfortunately, I can't remember who took it

There was a reasonable selection of expected Seabirds on this first day at sea.

Black-browed Albatross: This is the nominate melanophris subspecies which breeds in the Antarctic & Subantarctic Islands, including islands off southern Chile, the Falklands, South Georgia, South Sandwich, Crozet, Heard & Kerguelen Islands, Macquarie Island & New Zealand's Antipodes, Snares & Campbell Islands. They range across the Southern Oceans from North of the Antarctic Convergence to the Tropic of Capricorn

Grey-headed Albatross: They breed on Subantarctic Islands off Tierra del Fuego, South Georgia, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen, Macquarie & Campbell Islands

Grey-headed Albatross: They are easily my favourite Albatross

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: They have a cute body shape

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross: The breed on the circumpolar Subantarctic Islands and range throughout the Subantarctic & Antarctic Oceans

Cape Petrel: They are always an attractive Petrel to watch

Cape Petrel: This is the nominate capense subspecies which breeds from South Georgia to Macquarie Island, as well as, the Antarctic coast. A second subspecies breeds in the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands

Wilson's Storm-petrel: On range this is likely to be nominate oceanicus subspecies which breeds on Subantarctic Islands from Cape Horn to Heard & Kerguelen Islands

What I wasn't expecting to see were two species of Penguins, given we were over a hundred miles from the Southern-most point of mainland South America.

King Penguin: They breed breeds on the Subantarctic islands in Tierra del Fuego, the Falklands, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen & Heard islands, as well as, Macquarie Island

Western Rockhopper Penguin: This party of eight Western Rockhopper Penguins were at least a hundred miles from the nearest colony which seems a long way to travel to feed

Western Rockhopper Penguin: A closer crop of the last photo. They breed on the Southern Chilean islands of the Magallanes Province and Cape Horn Archipelago & the Falkland Islands

The overall highlight of the day was a couple Antarctic Minke Whales which passed fairly close to the ship. Unfortunately, they were the only Antarctic Minke Whales I saw during the trip.

Antarctic Minke Whale: They were once thought to be a subspecies of Minke Whales, but these days they are split. They average about nine metres long, but they can grow to over ten metres. Unlike Minke Whales they have grey flippers

Antarctic Minke Whale: They occur across the Antarctic & Subantarctic Oceans and range as far North as Madagascar to North Australia in the Indian Ocean and across the Pacific to Peru & Guiana to North Angola in the South Atlantic

The plan for the cruise was to head far enough South into the Weddell Sea, so that we could use the three helicopters that we had on board to travel the final distance to the Snow Hill Emperor Penguin colony. This is the most-Northerly Emperor Penguin colony in Antarctica. Oceanwide Expeditions had a team of three pilots and their engineers from DAP Helicopters onboard. The three pilots had many decades of flying experience in Chile and Antarctica, including flying for the police and air-sea rescue. I felt we were going to be well looked after on the helicopter rides. In preparation for the helicopter flights, there was a mandatory briefing in the afternoon to get us familiar to the helicopters. This involved showing us how to approach and board the helicopters. It also allowed us to take some photos, as we wouldn't be allowed to do that when the helicopters had their rotors turning later in the cruise.

The three helicopters could carry fourteen passengers between them

Rob Luff in the middle was one of my cabin mates

The instrument panel was compact

It had been a good but long, day on deck, especially as I went back to spend some extra time after the evening meal. Then it was time for bed as I had another early alarm set for our second full day at sea.

28 Feb 26 - Signs Of Spring Part 4 - A February Adder

It's been a very wet and sometimes windy start to 2026. So, it is good to see signs that Spring is on its way. On the last day of Feb, I visited one of my normal viewpoints to check the River Frome. However, it was already occupied by this sleepy Adder. I grabbed a quick photo with the IPhone, before leaving it in peace and finding a different viewpoint to check the river valley.

Adder

26 Feb 26 - Signs Of Spring Part 3 - February Sand Martins

It's been a very wet and sometimes windy start to 2026. So, it is good to see signs that Spring is on its way. In late Feb, I was watching the Frome river valley at Holmebridge hoping that a Goosander or Mandarin Duck would appear for my Isle of Purbeck Year List. I had no joy on the Wildfowl front, but I did find my first two Sand Martins for the year feeding over the Frome, upriver of Holmebridge.

Sand Martin: I didn't have my camera and they were too distant for a worthwhile photo, so here one of my photos from St Aldhelms (26 Aug 22)

24 Feb 26 - Signs Of Spring Part 2 - Brownsea Preparing For The Spring

I popped over to Brownsea in late Feb to do a high tide count for the Dorset Wildlife Trust. The island is closed to the public for the Winter. However, I've been asked if I can do a few high tide counts over the Winter, which allows the DWT wardens to get on with other conservation activities on the reserve. There was a reasonable selection of Waders and Wildfowl species on the lagoon. As the tide was just switching into a neap cycle, the numbers weren't as impressive as they would have been had it been a Spring high tide.

One of the new islands

The highlight of the visit was seeing the new Tern islands that have been created. The DWT wardens, along with DWT volunteers and an external contractor have created four new Tern islands, which are looking really good. The new islands have their top stones on and the plan this season is to leave them unfenced to see how much disturbance they get from the Sika Deer. In previous years, the Sika Deer have tried to get onto the islands to eat the vegetation, which is a risk to the nest Terns and Gulls on the unfenced islands. Hopefully, with the new islands being new and unvegetated, the Sika Deer won't be a problem on the new islands this season. The Black-headed Gulls and Sandwich Terns are comfortable with being fenced in, however, the Common Terns prefer unfenced islands.

The other three new islands: It will be interesting to watch the interest in these new islands over the next few weeks

There are already signs and noises of Spring with quite a few Black-headed Gulls investigating the old islands.

Black-headed Gull: The DWT team have also turned over the stones on the old islands and the Black-headed Gulls are showing a lot of interest in these islands

23 Feb 26 - Signs Of Spring Part 1 - My First Buff-tailed Bumblebee

It's been a very wet and sometimes windy start to 2026. So, it was good to have a dry and sunny day for once. I had a good look around Studland and the highlights were in the dunes at South Haven. Within a minute, I had seen and lost sight of my first Butterfly for the year: a Red Admiral. While I was trying to relocate the Red Admiral, I saw my first Buff-tailed Bumblebee walking around on the path in the dunes. I carefully moved it to the edge of the path, to reduce the risk of somebody following me and treading on this slugging Bumblebee. Spring feels like it is on its way.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee